Aftermath
by BiteMarks
Summary: Dark, full throttle Jo/Be, M/B angst all the way.  Graphic sex /graphic language, three-hanky warning.
1. Chapter 1

**Aftermath**

Warning: _Graphic sex, graphic language. This is much more graphic than I've ever written, I think. Not sure if this will work. I normally would take a lot more care with the build up of a relationship, but this one just wanted to be told this way. Would really appreciate some honest opinions. _

*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.

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He wanted her, wanted her so much that it was a constant ache inside him and all his other lusts had become deserted alleyways that no longer haunted him. For him there was only her. Only and ever, Beth.

Oh, he never spoke of it, never let it slip in word or deed; he merely smiled and made the courteous noises expected of him during those polite social exchanges one had with the partners of one's friends. No one, not even the closest of his donor companions, knew that alone at night his cool skin burned, imagining her there in Mick's apartment, seeing in his mind those fine musician's fingers on her thighs, his friend's wide, generous mouth pressed against the lush strawberry contours of hers. The images tormented him. Not even breaking his long held taboo against partaking in sex with the beautiful women who fed him seemed enough to assuage his fierce desire to bed her.

Of course he'd tried to resist it, dismissing his attraction at first as a mere over-reaction to her unusual blood type. He was Mick's friend for fuck's sake, and his old buddy deserved some happiness after the nightmare that was Coraline. But as time went by, his infatuation with her only grew worse. He didn't understand it. Beth was no more beautiful than a thousand other women he'd slept with, no more brave than several in centuries past who'd given their lives for him. He'd tried to fight it, he truly had, but her cool indifference, her bare acknowledgement of his presence, thrilled him to his core. She was a challenge he couldn't resist and before he even realised it he'd begun to woo her.

The advances were subtle; allowing her to catch the briefest sliver of an appreciative glance at her décolletage or derriere; laughing at her jokes; seeking out her opinion on small matters of feminine interest as if it mattered to him. Trinkets that meant nothing to him began to find their way into her hands from his – a 250 oz bottle of Chanel's new and as yet unreleased eau de parfum, samples in her size of this season's range of Jimmy Choo's that had been sent to the house and that he'd said none of his ladies had wanted. He shrugged and said they were of no value to him, he'd take them away if she didn't want them. Mick thought nothing of this, used as he was to the casual generosity of his wealthier friend, so she accepted with a casual gratitude that only made him want her more.

He told himself this flirtation was just a game for his own amusement - seeing if he could win some warmth from Mick's prickly, uninterested girl. Only lately had he begun to believe the ice was beginning to crack, that a small thaw in her feelings was occurring. The first drop of melt water electrified him. He hadn't mistaken the brush of her finger against his as she'd handed him his usual glass of whisky one late stopover at Mick's before dawn, and she was beginning to look at him from time to time now too, when she didn't think that either he or Mick had noticed, her eyes lingering a little too long on the hard plane of his jaw and the smooth triangle of skin two buttons below the base of his throat. He had been alive too long to mistake the signals, even if she wasn't aware of it yet. A small green shoot of attraction toward him was uncurling within her, he knew it. Her hand had brushed against his once too often as they passed in the doorway to Mick's apartment these days for him to be mistaken about her interest.

And suddenly it was no longer a game. What she thought, what she wanted began to obsess him. He'd been fooling himself, he realised that now. This thing between them wasn't a game of no consequence, the outcome had become far too important to him. He'd existed for far too long in the arid wasteland a loveless life to let this go.

He had to have her, whatever the cost.

*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.

.

His nightly visits had been in secret, waiting until Mick had left, then watching from her balcony until she fell asleep. In the depths of his desire for her he thought that being this close to her in the dark would hold him, but he was wrong. The obsession had grown too powerful. He had to see her without a pane of glass between them, but there would be no turning back once even one well-shod toe crossed her threshold, he knew it. He wanted her so badly he wouldn't be able to stop himself from making a declaration, one that would destroy his long-term friendship. He knocked on her door, shivering inside in abject terror at the thought that she might refuse him.

"Josef?" she queried sleepily, as she pulled the robe tighter around her waist. "It's 3.00am."

He said nothing but stepped inside, shutting the door behind him.

"Josef?" she said again.

He stepped closer and taking her face between his palms he leaned in and kissed her with a kiss so soft she barely felt it.

"Oh," she said, taken completely off guard.

He leaned in and kissed her again, harder this time, letting his desire for her hum through his body like music. Her lips were warm and they yielded ever so slightly under the pressure of his. Her heart began to race and she swayed dangerously close to him before taking a little step back.

Her hand was on his chest. "Wai -"

He kissed her again, a hand on the small of her back pulling her in tight and her fingers curled around the lapel of his jacket. He kissed her jaw, her throat, her collarbone.

"Oh, Josef, no," she said in a voice that said don't stop. "This is wrong, so wrong."

Her heart was pounding and the unmistakeable scent of arousal rose from every inch of her. An all-consuming madness overtook him them and he cupped her breasts and stroked the balls of his thumbs across her nipples. She sagged against him and with a stifled groan he swept an arm beneath her knees and carried her into the bedroom.

"Please, Josef," she panted against his ear.

"Please what?" he said, as he lay her down on the bed.

"We can't do this."

He kissed her again and her mouth opened beneath his, the tips of their tongues touching.

"Tell me you haven't been curious," he said, his cool hand untying the sash around her waist, squeezing a breast gently.

Her back arched. "I haven't."

"Liar," he said.

She offered no resistance when he tugged the robe from her shoulders, began to unbutton her pyjamas. She was perfect: her breasts high and pert, her legs smooth and toned, the dark shadow at the tops of her thighs an irresistible temptation. He trembled when he touched her there, his erection painfully hard. The edge of his tongue flicked against the little pink tip and she sighed, opening herself to him fully. All pretence had gone, they were lovers in all but the deed itself and he didn't intend to wait any longer. He stood and silently removed his clothes as she watched from the bed, the desire in her eyes no longer camouflaged. Nothing was going to stop him from taking her tonight. It would be a fuck neither of them would ever forget. One knee rested on the sheets and he lowered himself over her until their bodies were almost touching. Then he leaned forward and kissed her. She sighed into his open mouth and a flash of white-hot fire engulfed him.

"Oh, yes," he murmured against her teeth.

One, then two fingers pushed into her vagina and pressed rhythmically against her inner walls until moisture soaked his palm. She groaned now, her unwilling sound of pleasure maddening him even further. His knee slid between her thighs and he thrust his cock deeply inside of her. _She was so tight, so warm!_

"Fuck me," she sighed so softly he wasn't sure she'd actually said it.

He thrust himself into her even harder, knowing by the iron grip of her vagina that her orgasm was close. He'd never felt so aroused.

"Bite me," she begged.

A slow smile spread across his face, his fangs springing from his gums. His hips thrust in a punishing rhythm and he bent his face to her neck and slid his fangs into her vein. She screamed, an orgasm punching through her system in terrible juddering waves, her senses spinning her off into oblivion. Moments later he too came in powerful icy jets. He remained inside her, pumping ever more slowly as she clung to him, trembling from the aftermath of her climax. His flaccid member slid from the warmth of her vagina and he rolled over to lie beside her. She turned her head away and stared at the wall. He grasped her chin and forced her to look at him.

"Oh, Josef, what have we done?" she said.

He wrapped his arms around her. "I'm not sorry." His eyes searched hers, "Tell me you're not sorry."

"I hate this."

"You loved it," he whispered, tracing the outline of a nipple. It hardened instantly and he looked at her triumphantly.

She slapped him. "How can I possibly tell Mick?"

"Tell me you won't be thinking about this all day tomorrow."

She slapped him harder and his eyes gleamed silver, his cock stiffening.

"I didn't think you'd want it again so soon, Beth." He pinned her to the bed and ran his fingernails across her nipples.

Her face contorted with ecstasy for a moment and then she frowned. "Let me go."

He sucked a nipple, razed the edge of a fang against the soft skin of her areola.

"Please," she murmured, her eyelids fluttering as her back arched, she pressed up against him.

"Please what, Beth?"

"Please leave," she ground out, insulted by the insufferable smugness of his tone. He merely smiled and sucked harder. She groaned again, her hips jerking convulsively. "Please," she whispered again, her fingers resting lightly against the back of his neck.

"What do you want?"

"I want… I want…"

He growled and shoved his erect cock into her, enjoying the small hiss of pain.

"Josef says gently this time," he said against her shoulder and he cradled her to him, moving inside her in the slowest of rhythms. Her breath rasped against his ear and he'd thought he would go mad with the pleasure of her obvious arousal. He was heading toward a second peak, his pleasure heightened by the sense that she had surrendered completely, that she was his. He brushed the hair from her face, made sure he could see her, needed to see every expression on her face as he fucked her.

"Tell me you want me."

Her eyes were glassy, a pained look of intense concentration on her face. "You know…" she winced, "You know I do."

The words electrified him. "Tell me again," he gasped, not quite believing it.

"I want you."

His fangs plunged into the skin above her areola and his body bucked, shooting semen into her cunt in endless waves.

Afterward he held her to him, licking the wounds his fangs had made in her perfect skin, smoothing his own blood over them so there would be no scar.

"I'll come again tomorrow," he said.

She didn't look at him. "Mick," she said.

" - is going to get an urgent assignment interstate."

He waited as she decided their fate.

"Love me again, Josef," she whispered and pulled him to her for the third time.

*.*.*.*.*.*.*

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	2. Chapter 2

.

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He wondered when he took her whether the having would be as good as the wanting.

It was better.

He wondered whether the sex would become stale after screwing her once or twice, the way it always did with his freshies.

It didn't.

He was crazy for her; he couldn't focus, make decisions, do anything that required sustained concentration. He was beginning to lose it, make choices that were costing him money on the stock market. He didn't recognise himself, several times wondering whether he had indeed gone mad.

_She was his best friend's woman for Christ's sake._

He was so far gone it didn't matter. There was no solution but that he had to have her, and the more of her he had, the more he wanted. Initially, he'd been satisfied just by coming to her room in the dark of night, ravishing her with savage assurance as if he were a vampire of old and she a village maiden, but too soon he wanted her all the time, when he woke at dusk, in the middle of his working day, the early hours of the morning.

It took some months, but he persuaded her to quit her job with the District Attorney's office, use her journalism degree in an executive position in the Public Relations Department of Kostan Industries.

It provided a plausible excuse as to why she smelled of him.

He couldn't go for long periods without hearing her voice, seeing her, touching her. During meetings he'd stroke the skin underneath her skirt, his eyes glued to her face as she tried to remain professional before her colleagues, hide the arousal he was so deliberately provoking.

Evenings when he socialised with Mick were the hardest. He cringed every time Mick touched her in passing, felt a slow burn of anger as his friend ran a proprietary hand over the curve of her shoulder. He knew the revealing clothing Beth had begun to wear was for him, knew she enjoyed his discomfiture just a little as he watched them together.

When he came to her at night he could smell his friend on her breath.

He was so far gone, for the first time in over a century he began to plan time away from the office, a holiday. His quick mind spent hours plotting ways to pry her from Mick's side for a whole week. That should give him enough time to satisfy himself on her willing body, that ought to burn the madness out.

If it didn't burn out soon it might kill them both.

She was becoming pale, too pale. He could never resist the bite, needing to come and come again each time they lay together. She never resisted, begged for it even, pressing her throat against his fangs and urging him to drink from her, as if she was the one who needed it.

Their desire was making them reckless.

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*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*

.

Beth was working late these days, so Mick had let himself into her office, a bouquet of flowers in his hand. They'd agreed she'd see him tomorrow night, she thought he'd be safely asleep in his freezer by now, but he wanted to surprise her. He looked around, curious about her absence. Her handbag was still sitting on the cabinet by her desk.

He heard the sound of running water. Every office at the executive level of the Kostan Corp Building had private bathrooms. Beth must have done a workout in the basement gym, needed to clean up. He smiled at the thought of watching her shower unannounced and walked softly to the half open bathroom door.

He pressed a finger against the wood. The door swung open.

Beth's back was pressed against the shower wall, her head thrown back, her eyes squeezed tightly shut. For a second he felt a thrill of forbidden pleasure – he loved to watch her touch herself - but then she moaned and he saw the man kneeling between her legs, one hand on her buttock, the other pumping at his hard-on. His face was pushed tight against her pussy, and as Mick watched, the man drew back a little, parting her lips with two fingers and thrusting his tongue inside of her. Beth groaned and pulled his head into her groin with both hands.

Mick felt sick, enraged. The two of them were so engrossed, the steam so thick, that neither Beth nor the man had registered his presence. He watched as the man lifted Beth's thigh and lay it across his shoulder. For a second his face was in profile.

_Josef_. The bouquet of flowers dropped to the floor.

Beth nodded, her eyes glued to his best friend's face. Fangs bit deeply into her femoral artery.

"I'm coming, oh God, oh God, I'm coming," Beth breathed, her body shaking violently.

As she began to climax, her eyes opened and she looked directly into Mick's stricken face.

.

*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*

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"How long?"

Beth's eyes were wide with fear.

"_How fucking long_?" Mick shouted.

Josef stepped in front of Beth.

"What does it matter, Mick?," he said, "What's done is done."

Mick stepped around Josef and looked at Beth. His eyes softened. "Just tell me it wasn't going on before we talked about moving in together."

"Oh, no, Mick," she lied, and took a step forward as if to put her arms around him.

"Don't," he said turning away.

"I know it won't help, but I acknowledge that Beth is yours. You have the right to Compensation, Mick," Josef said, referring to an ancient vampire law of reparation, meant to smooth the waters when one vampire had stolen the possessions of another. "Name your penalty. What do you want?"

"A stake through your heart," Mick said without turning his head to look at his former best friend. "You, dead," he said warming to his subject, "Your head on a stick, your companies, every one of them, burned to the ground."

Josef paused and an eyebrow rose. "For a second I was worried that you were going to overreact," he said.

Mick's hand was around Josef's throat and then the enraged P.I. was flying through the air, landing with a hard thump against the other wall.

"Josef, no!" Beth screamed.

"Don't mistake my offer of Compensation as an admission of weakness, Mick," Josef grated.

Mick picked himself up. "Screw you, Josef. I will invoke Compensation. I want you out of L.A. today."

Josef's mind ticked over. "All right. Anything else?"

"Sarah."

Josef stiffened. "What about her?"

"Her machines, all of them, switched off."

Josef's face twitched. "I take yours, you take mine, is that how it works?"

"Damn right", Mick said bitterly.

Beth gasped. She didn't understand what was happening. Mick couldn't have just said that. He wouldn't make Josef…

"Let that be on your own head, Mick." Josef was saying, and flipped open his phone and hit the speed dial.

"Wait," said Beth, looking desperately from man to man. This was all going too fast. Mick wasn't in his right mind, he couldn't be. "Mick, no. Josef, wait, don't do anything stupid."

Josef ignored her, saying just one word the moment the call was answered. He snapped the phone shut, his face tight. "I never thought you had it in you, Mick."

"If you were hanging around you'd see a whole new me. But you're not." Mick looked at Beth properly for the first time. "You and I have a lot to discuss. Come along, _dear_."

He started for the door, hesitating when he realised that neither Beth nor Josef had moved.

"What do _you_ want, Beth?" Josef was asking her.

Mick looked at them both in disbelief. "You had an affair with my woman and now you think you can stop us discussing this?"

"Beth?" Josef asked again.

It was undeniable, the wordless communication that passed between the guilty pair, the looks in their eyes, the words they were speaking just to one another. Mick felt a pain deep inside his gut.

"He has a right to answers," he heard her say, "Apologies."

A muscle spasmed in Josef's jaw and he turned to Mick and said, "If you lay a finger on her, just _one_, and I'll kill you."

Mick was in Josef's face in an instant. As if he would ever hurt Beth. "I ought to rip your fucking heart out."

Then the men were gone, replaced by a pair of hissing vampires circling one another, their fists clenching, unclenching. They were both insane; they'd kill each other if she didn't do something. Beth grabbed her handbag and walked quickly to the door.

"It's okay, Mick, just stop this. I'm coming, I'm coming," she said then gasped, her face flaming as she realised the context in which Mick had heard her say those exact two words only moments ago.

Mick gave her a bitter smile and watched as a tear slid slowly down her cheek. "Go. Wait in the car."

He turned to Josef as Beth left. "My right to Compensation? There's just one more thing I want…."

The drive home was in complete and icy silence.

.

*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*


	3. Chapter 3

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"I suppose you want to know everything," Beth said nervously as she watched Mick pour himself a drink. There was something frightening in his calm after the scene at her office. She'd never seen him like this. "You have a right to know."

He raised the glass and swallowed the sour liquid and looked at her, his face still and dangerous. "Undress," he said.

"What?" She wasn't sure she'd heard him right.

"You heard me. I told you to undress."

She stood uncertainly in the middle of the room. "I don't think…"

He was before her in an instant, the hem of her dress bunched in his hands. His biceps bulged as he tore the gown from hem to neckline and tossed the rags into a corner.

"I said. Un. Dress."

She felt vulnerable in a way she never had with him before and turned to leave the room with as much dignity as she could muster. One hand caught her shoulder and with a flick of his fingers her bra snapped open and it too was flung into a corner. She'd never seen Mick like this. An ugly spike of fear licked along her spine. She wrapped her arms around her naked chest, her heart hammering.

"You should be," he snapped.

"What?" She panted.

"Afraid."

Damned if he was going to make her feel this way. Her chin rose in defiance. "Josef said.. "

His hand was around her throat. "Mention him again and I'll snap your neck."

He held her still for a moment as if deciding whether or not to tighten his fingers and then he released her and turned away.

"I'd take the rest off if I were you. Unless you want my brand of help, that is."

"You've gone mad."

He started toward her and she stepped out of her panties, kicking off her heels, and straightening her spine to show she wasn't afraid.

"Show me where he touched you."

She didn't move. His expression darkened and he put the glass of whiskey down.

"Did he touch you here?" He said, grasping a shoulder, his face pained. "Here?" A rough hand rubbed along her forearm. "What about here?" He drew his nails softly against the back of her thigh from her knee to the curve of her buttock. "Oh Beth, did he touch you here?" The pad of his thumb traced along the line of her jugular and he leaned in and kissed the wildly throbbing pulse. He grasped rich handfuls of her hair, sucking against her neck in a way that made her knees tremble, pressing his denim-clad hard-on against her naked thigh, the cold metal of his belt buckle making her shiver. "What about here?," he whispered, circling a nipple with a tenderness that made the pink skin pucker. He bent down and sucked the rosy tip into his mouth, sending a wave of fire racing to her groin.

"Oh, Mick," she sighed, her eyes rolling back into her head.

"I can still smell him on you," he said, his voice hardening. Then he straightened, scooped her into his arms and carried her to the sofa. She looked like a Viking bride, her blonde hair gleaming in the firelight like that, her naked body gleaming with perspiration, her legs splayed apart. Looking down on her, a surge of power filled his chest, a primeval sense of ownership. She was his and he was damned well going to assert his right of possession.

His zipper lowered, his erection springing out and bouncing against his belly. He lowered himself over her, sucked her lower lip into his mouth, and then he was kissing her, kissing her as if they'd been apart for centuries. She tugged the jeans down over his hips, freeing all of him, and took him in her hand.

"No," he said, taking her hand away, guiding himself inside her, groaning as he felt her body closing around him.

The sex was hard and fierce and unlovely, and he kept his eyes closed during it, afraid to see what might show on her face should he dare to open them.

"I love you so much," he murmured into her sweat soaked throat, loving the warm wet feel of being inside her, the expression on his face changing every second from love to anger to despair and back again as he ground the rhythm of his desolation into her hips.

Her breath rasped against his ear. She was as aroused as he'd ever felt her. She moaned and whispered his name. He was going to come. By God, he was going to come. He'd always held back before when it got to this point, not wanting to bite her, never wanting her to feel as if she were merely a source of food. She'd been precious. His Beth. But not today. Today she was his betrayer. His eyes silvered and he plunged his fangs into her jugular, pulling deeply against the flow of blood inside her veins.

Her back arched as if an electric current had run through his fangs and into her and her moan reverberated right down to his testicles. "Oh, yes," she muttered, "Yes. Yes, oh Mick, yes." She clung to him tightly, her whole body shaking and she came fast and hard, the climax tearing through her body like a tornado.

When it was over he kissed the bloodied wounds on her neck and cradled her to his chest like a baby. Tears coursed down his face. "Oh, Mick, oh I love you so much," she said, nuzzling into his chest.

He stiffened and held her away from him. "Is it me or is it Josef, Beth? Be sure because it can't be both."

She held a palm against his cheek. "I love you, Mick. I've always loved you."

"Do you love Josef?"

She didn't answer.

"So what was Josef?" He insisted.

She was silent for what seemed a long time, the tension in the apartment stretching like piano wire. "I can't explain it, Mick. I needed him."

Mick looked stricken. "And now?"

Beth's eyes closed. "He was an obsession, Mick, one I couldn't control. Please understand… what we were doing was killing me." Her eyes opened. "I want you, I choose you," she whispered.

"That's not good enough, Beth." Mick's voice was hard. "Do you love him? Have you ever loved him?"

"No, alright, no!" Beth said, agitation making her ugly.

"Do you still want him? Want his hands, his lips where mine have just been? Do you, Beth? Will it be him you're dreaming of tonight?"

Beth was crying now. "No, Mick. No. It's over, alright, it's over. I'm glad it's over. Is that what you want to hear? I'm glad of it. What we were doing made me feel dirty. Ashamed. I hated the lies, the sneaking around. I hated what we were doing to you. I hated myself, and in the end I even hated - "

Josef stepped out of the shadows. "I've heard enough." He looked gaunt and his voice was old and hollow, as if his insides had been scooped away. "Are you satisfied that you have your pound of flesh now, Mick?"

Beth covered herself with a throw rug and looked at Mick in shock. "You knew he was here?"

Josef answered without looking at her. "It was the last part of his right to Compensation, Beth. For me to stand and watch and do nothing while he made love to you." His voice cracked. "He wanted me to be here when he asked you if you loved me. That was it, wasn't it?" He turned to Mick with grimace of pain. "A most elegant revenge, my friend."

"You taught me well, Josef," Mick said bitterly, standing so that Josef could see the fading marks of Beth's passion on his naked torso. "You're never to enter L.A. again or any other city she's in while she still lives. I demand this under the Vampire Code of Compensation. Is that clear?"

Josef flinched, and then he nodded, opened the door and left. Mick turned to Beth. "You will never see Josef again. Do you understand? Even if you wanted to… He's taken an oath of honour not to see you and is bound to it by the strictest of our laws. He can't see you even if you were to seek him out. If you tried, he'd have to leave that city. Do you understand?"

"You've become cruel," Beth said sadly.

"I am what you and Josef have made me, Beth," Mick said. "Pack your bag."

"You're throwing me out?"

"I just don't think I could stand to touch you again anytime soon. You loved him. I could see it in your eyes."

"Oh God, Mick, it's complicated." Her hand ran through the length of her blonde hair. "_Yes_, I loved him. I love you too. Why do you think I stayed? Why I never left for him? I love you more. God help me, I love you more."

"I know," he whispered, his face dropping into his hand, his shoulders beginning to shake. "I know you think you do."

"I'm sorry, Mick," she said, "I am so sorry that we hurt you."

She reached out to touch his shoulder and he shrugged her off. "It's late. Forget about packing tonight. Just go to bed," he glanced upstairs toward their bedroom, "and we'll talk about it in the morning."

After she'd gone he slumped into a seat and dropped his head into his hands. It didn't matter that she said she'd chosen him, it didn't matter that she said she loved him more… No matter what he did, the four small words she'd said about Josef kept going around and around in his head.

_Yes, I loved him. Yes, I loved him._

_._

_*.*.*.*.*.*.*_

_._

When she awoke there was a brown paper package and a note resting on her pillow.

_Beth,_

_I've given you the deed to the loft. It's yours. I don't think I could stand to be here without you. You're in the very air, here. I haven't forgiven you. I don't know if I can ever forgive you. The images of the two people I loved most together will haunt me always. _

_You're not the only one I can't forgive. I committed two mortal sins yesterday, Beth, sins for which there can be no absolution. Sarah was an innocent and now because of me she's dead. I truly am a monster. _

_And the second? At first you denied it and that gave me comfort, but I knew. You and Josef love one another. I think the knowledge drove me a little mad. Last night I wanted to hurt you both, smash what you had into pieces that couldn't wound me any more. That was wrong of me. Love in this world is too precious, too rare, for that. The human heart is complicated. Loving Lilah taught me that. I've done you and Josef a very great wrong, but what's done is done and under vampire law, Josef cannot and will not agree to see you now, no matter how he feels. _

_In my pain I ruined three lives, so I'm leaving. I bought a new identity and by the time you read this, I'll be gone. I don't know where I'm going or how long I'll remain there. As some small measure of penance to Josef for the death of Sarah, I will abide by the punishment I gave him and will never again return to L.A. while you live. _

_I love you, Beth. I always will. I hope those times you hate me most for parting you from Josef you'll remember that and know that I am suffering at least as much as him._

_Yours,_

_Mick_

Beth crumpled the note up in her hand. A loud howl of desolation echoed throughout Mick's empty apartment. She cried until her abdomen began to ache from the violence of her sobbing. When she didn't think she had a single tear left to cry, she threw back the covers and got out of bed.

So Josef was bound by vampire law? So what?

So, Mick intended to pay for his sins by giving up his greatest friendship and never entering L.A. again while she still lived? Bollocks to that.

She was _over_ being pushed around by vampires, their stupid laws and their stupid codes of honour. Her vampires were about to learn a very important lesson. They'd both fallen in love with the wrong human if they thought she was going to take this lying down.

She wiped the tears from her eyes. She was the second best investigator she knew and even if it took her a decade she'd find them, and when she did...

Well, when she did, then it would be time for some serious butt kicking.

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_*.*.*.*.*.*.*_


End file.
